In recent years, the United States military establishment has recognized the importance of being able to quickly transport equipment and supplies to, and set up operations in, trouble spots. In order to accomplish the desired rapid transport, there is a need to containerize logistic support systems to be compatible with the current national and international maritime infrastructure. A full logistic support system includes a variety of small stores. The military has developed a plan to transport small stores in cargo containers that have been fitted with special steel cabinets.
A problem that must be solved in connection with containers fitted with such cabinets is that the cabinets, and thus the stores contained therein, are subject to being damaged by external forces to which the container is subjected during transportation of the container. The containers will be shipped by air, sea, rail, and road. The rail mode of transportation is particularly hard on containers and will create extremely high loadings on the cabinets and their support systems. Containers normally have full opening rear doors. These doors and the manufacturing tolerances of the containers and the cabinets make it impractical to firmly abut the cabinets against the rear structure of the container. Instead, they are abutted against the front wall of the container, leaving some clearance at the rear. Therefore, the rear cabinets are spaced inwardly from the rear container structure. This spacing makes the cabinets vulnerable to forces on the container tending to accelerate the container in a forward direction. When of sufficient magnitude and suddenness, such forces can deform the cabinets and thereby damage the stores contained in the cabinets and/or impede access to the stores. As used herein, the phrase "forces tending to accelerate the container in a forward direction" and like phrases include a force striking the rear of a stationary container, a force that slows the speed of a container moving with its rear facing the direction of motion, and other forces that result in the cabinets tending to move rearwardly relative to the container.